Question

Photo of Frank Franklin

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Is Rock RMS really free

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I had been trying to find out certain things in Rock RMS. I had been researching for Free and Open source Church Management Systems when I can across Rock RMS. Rock RMS seems to be a fantastic software for a church but I have some questions before diving into using it. Some of the questions are: 1. Is it really a free and open source software? 2. Can it be rebranded? I mean can things like Rock's logos and some other things and designs that are not related to to the church be removed or changed? For example, I was going through the Rock demo here https://www.rockrms.com/page/617 and I saw things like "Crafted by the Spark Development Network / License" at the buttom of the page after loggin in. I also saw "Powered by: Rock RMS" here http://www.rocksolidchurchdemo.com/. Please can these be removed since they are not related to the church as it would be better replacing it with designs related to church? Where and how can these be removed or changed? Is there any guide or manual for rebranding Rock RMS? 3. Very Importantly, can the main Rock RMS Admin create a new user and assign an admin role to that user? I mean, can there be more than one Admin for Rock RMS? Also, can the second admin be restricted to certain areas of the Rock RMS? I mean can the second admin be allowed to only have access to areas like "Intranet", "People", "Finance", and "Tools" only? So can the second admin be denied access to the "Admin Tools"? Why I am also asking this is because if the second admin have access to the "Admin Tool", he/she might mess up the system by entering areas like "General Settings" under "Admin Tools". What am saying is that if the person doesnt know how Rock RMS really works, they might mess up the whole Rock system if the happen to gain access to "Admin Tools" area. I hope you understand what am talking about? If you dont want someone to access a partical area, I think its necessary not giving that person access to that area. Also, if the second admin is given access to, for example, the "Finance" area, can they be only allowed to acces the "Functions" area under "Finance" and disallowed to access the "Administration" area under "Finance" area? 4. With Rock RMS, can members really make online giving? I mean can members donate or give to the church online through their computers or mobile phone with their cards such as MasterCard or through PayPal or any form of online payment? 5. Can members create accounts or update their profiles on Rock by themselves where ever they are? 6. Is there any form communication system like discussion forum in Rock that members can use to communicate with each other? Or is there any messaging system in Rock that members can use to send each others messages? Can members view the profiles of other members online in Rock? 7. Please can anyone provide me with a comprehensive list of features that are available in Rock RMS. Thank you so much. Looking forward for my questions being answered.

  • Photo of Tyler Schrock

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    1. Yes, it's really free and open source software (https://github.com/SparkDevNetwork/Rock) (But the devs can't work off nothing so donations are greatly appreciated! (http://www.rockrms.com/Rock/Invest)). As long as you follow the foss licence (http://www.rockrms.com/license) you can do whatever you want with it.


    2. Yes, you can rebrand things for your Church. The only limitation is the code licence (http://www.rockrms.com/license). For example, you must keep things like licensing/attribution notices in the source code. An example from our internal site's footer: Capture38.PNG. And our external site doesn't mention Rock directly. Everything is fully customisable in the source, in the built-in CMS, or with different themes (https://www.rockrms.com/Rock/BookContent/14/82).


    3. Yes, there is an 'RSR - Administrator' group for administrators, and all security roles can be customised (So you could set up another one with limited permissions). You can set permissions for each role or person to allow or deny access to areas. (https://www.rockrms.com/Rock/BookContent/9/80#securingrock) (https://www.rockrms.com/page/513?Item=70)


    4. Yes, Rock has an online giving system (https://www.rockrms.com/Rock/BookContent/15/84#onlinegiving) and supports many different payment gateways (https://www.rockrms.com/Rock/BookContent/15/84#paymentgateways) and more through plugins.


    5. Yes, people can create and update their own profiles.


    6. There's nothing directly built-in to do discussions, but It would be easy to build with the existing tools. (Everything you see on http://www.rockrms.com/ is built inside Rock - if you see it here it can be done). Members can't see other people's profiles by default, but all of that is configurable within the CMS and with permissions, so you could set it up however you want.


    7. You can find a list of some of the features at http://www.rockrms.com/Rock/Features, and if you want to dig deeper you can check out all of the helpfull documentation here: http://www.rockrms.com/Rock/Learn.

    If you have any other questions, just ask! There's a large community of people here that would love to help!

  • Photo of Frank Franklin

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    First of all I must say that for someone to have answered my question, a very long one for that matter, shows that Rock has a FANTASTIC community and with awesome people who are there to help one another. Tyler Schrock (I pronounce it "School ROCKs"), I must say a very big thank you for taking the time to answer my very very long question. 5 STARTS for you! Your answers are really of great help and they will greatly help me when I start working with Rock RMS. Tyler, you ROCK! Your answers have made me to appreciate Rock RMS and how great Rock is.

    Once again I must apologise for my very long questions. I have another questions and please I would need answers to them, please guys. Here are my questions:

    1. Can I install and test Rock on a Windows 7 or 10 computer? I tried downloading Rock RMS from GitHub but the size of the file was intimidating - it was more than 500 Mega Byte. Does it mean that to test Rock on a computer, one has to download that large file? What if after downloading the large file and after testing, how possible is it to move such a huge file from the computer to the Web host server? Is there no better way of installing and testing Rock on the computer first. How can a Windows 7 or 10 be configured in order to install and test Rock? What if the computer already has Visual Studio 2015 Community Edition installed on the computer, is this enough to install and configure Rock on the PC?

    2. You said: "For example, you must keep things like licensing/attribution notices in the source code. An example from our internal site's footer: [YOUR_IMAGE] And our external site doesn't mention Rock directly. Everything is fully customisable in the source, in the built-in CMS, or with different themes". Please how and what is the fastest way to make changes to the internal and external footers? According to your image, how did you make changes to the attribution of your site's internal and external footers? Also, are there anything that I might need to modify as regards this and rebranding in order to suit the design of the church which I need to be aware of since am new to Rock? Please is there a central place or file(s) I need to know about in Rock which I might need to make changes to for rebranding in order to easily change all designs to suit the church? I don't mind if it will be overridden during update. I can keep backup and restore of Rock finishes updated. Please is Rock update manual or automatic? I mean do you have to decide when to update Rock or it just updates itself even when you don't want to yet?

    4. Please are there plugins for Rock? Where can I find them?

    6. You said: "Members can't see other people's profiles by default, but all of that is configurable within the CMS and with permissions, so you could set it up however you want." Since Rock is also a ChMS (Church Management System), can it be integrated with OneBody (a church social networking and online directory software) or any other? If yes, any plugin or how? Please what are the things or features or whatever that members with accounts on Rock can see and do? Please if members make online giving or any form of payments, will they be able to see every details or history of the payments they have made on their own account on Rock? If Rock is installed for the first time, can members be asked to register for an account by themselves on Rock or is this done through the first setting up of the CMS in Rock or is the CMS already set? Is there anyone that can handle custom development should the church requires certain features that are not already available on Rock?

    Thank you so much.

    Looking forward to hearing from you.